AIX

Some simple questions about Intellistation 285 and powervm.
I want to learn AIX,so i will buy an used I285 from ebay.
1)Will support aix 7.1?
2)Is powervm avaliable?Where to download or buy it?
Thanks

Yes, probably. It is a POWER5+ system and should run AIX 7.1, but if it is able to do so in a supported manner is everybodies guess. Even if the hardware supports the OS it might need microcode (=firmware revisions) to do so and if this is available for such an old system for any OS revision is everybodies guess.

Having said this: i doubt that you will need 7.1 to learn AIX. Perhaps AIX 6.1 is quite sufficient for your purpose, the difference between 7.1 and 6.1 is - from the newcomers view - minimal. You will, for instance, not be able to do everything with WLPARs (workload partitions) in 6.1 which is possible in 7.1, but in practice WLPARs are not used anyway, because chroot-environments (even beautified ones, this, in fact, are WLPARs) are not really popular in the daily operations among admins.

PowerVM is a licensed product. You need it if you want to do micropartitioning (simply speaking, allocate fractions of a CPU to a LPAR). The license is valid for a certain piece of hardware, therefore, if you need to license it or not will depend on the piece of hardware you buy. If you have to buy and deploy it the procedure is: you will get a download link, download the license file and apply it on (the firmware of) your system. Alas, i doubt that you will be able to buy a license for such a system, because it was withdrawn from the market in 2009.

I hope this helps.

bakunin

Thanks

---------- Post updated at 07:26 AM ---------- Previous update was at 07:24 AM ----------

IBM System software map for 9111-285 Intellistation Power 285 and PowerVM Virtual I/O Server - United States

Is still supported?

I have a 9131-52A which is not really on the market anymore either, but I was still able to get my PowerVM license, which cost me about 400€. I am able with just 1 CPU to do micro-partitioning, have 4 LPARs running where one of them is a VIO server. The license key has to be entered in ASMI if you have no HMC. I did that and work with IVM since I do not have a HMC.
I would try to check 1st if your 9111-285, is capable of micro-partitioning and does support LPARs. If you enter the ASMI and check the licenses (don't remember the correct name), there will be all those listed, which are activated and which not. Not that you spent 400 € and can't use the license.
We had a thread over here: